Monday, October 19, 2015

Sing Along: The 20 Greatest Songs

Know
any great songs?I’m sure you do.At least, you think they are great
songs.

Are
they?What constitutes a great song?

I
decided to come up with a list of the greatest songs ever written based on my
experience and research.I’ve studied
music history for most of my life.I’ve
loved music and took several music history courses in college and have
continued to learn about music ever since.I even speak about the topic.My
next presentation on American music will be to the Daughters of the American
Revolution chapter in DeLand in January.

After
a lot of thought, I came up with 20 songs that have entertained listeners for,
in one case, close to 500 years and will likely continue long into the future.

I created
a simple criteria to generate my list.

1)
The song had to be popular in its day.

2)
The song has to be popular today.

3)
The song has to have some significance, not just a “silly love song” like those
cherished by Paul McCartney.

4)
It has to be in English.Translations are
fine.

As
a result, I did not include the “Star Spangled Banner.” It is old, written in
1814, and very familiar.However, it is only
known because of its status as the national anthem. Besides, there’s even a
small movement to have it replaced by “God Bless America.”For the same reason, I didn’t include any of
the anthems of the Armed Forces.

‘Take
Me Out to the Ballgame” isn’t included either, even though it was written in
1908, is well known and widely sung.It
just has no significance. Besides, the only part of the song still remembered is the chorus.

Few
of our great singers and songwriters made my list.Their songs were often beloved, but they typically
are not sung today except by people like me although some songs do have wide
audiences.For example, Neil Diamond’s
“Sweet Caroline” is the Boston Red Sox theme song, but it doesn’t have the same
resonance in other places.

I
also looked at the Rolling Stone
magazine’s 2012 list of top 500 songs of all time.I respectfully reject virtually all of the
choices, which were heavily weighted toward rock groups like the Rolling
Stones, U2 and the like.They may still
be playing, but their songs have little meaning and less staying power.

I
also avoided any current hits simply because they clearly fail any test for
longevity.

The
songs are numbered based on time, not as ranking.Great songs are all number one in my book.

1.
Greensleeves.This may be the oldest popular song still
widely known.Usually associated with
Shakespeare, he didn’t write it, but did mention it in two plays.It is listed as a traditional English
folksong and dates to around 1580.

Burns

2.
Auld Lang Syne.Written by Irishman Robert Burns in 1788, it
was set to the music of a traditional folk song and has become the most wildly
known English song in the world.

3.
Yankee Doodle Dandy.Another English folk song from the 1700s, its
lyrics were meant to mock the Colonists during the Revolutionary War, but it quickly
was adopted by Americans despite its sexual innuendo.

4.
Rock of Ages.Written in 1763 by an English minister who sought
shelter in a rocky cleft when caught outdoors in a storm, it remains one of the
most popular hymns ever written.

5.
Amazing Grace.A hymn written in 1773 by ex-slaver turned
clergyman John Newton, it was later set to music.It never fails to buoy spirits and emotions.Judy Collins’ version in more recent times
remains a classic.

6.
Silent Night.Written in 1816, this perennial favorite
Christmas carol was first performed in 1818 and was named a cultural heritage
by the United Nations in 2012.

7.Dixie.No song elicits more emotional response.Lincoln said it was actually “captured”
during the Civil War.Probably written
by Daniel Emmett – there is some debate over authorship – it appeared in the
1850s and quickly became the Southern anthem.

8.
The Old Folks at Home.Stephan Foster’s 1851 class continues to be
sung.He may have died an alcoholic,
frustrated by being unable to write the classical music his wife desired, but
his songs originated American music. This song, even with altered PC lyrics,
evokes a time now long gone,

9.
The Battle Hymn of the Republic.This rousing anthem, written by Julia Ward
Howe in 1861, borrowed the music from an existing song and has remained
extraordinarily popular.

Cohan

10.
Over There.Written by George M. Cohan in 1917 to
encourage young men to enlist in World War I, it has continued as a
militaristic anthem that reflects our ideals.Americans “won’t be back” until the job is done.

11.
Old Man River.Perhaps the greatest of all Broadway songs,
it was a late edition to Showboat.While the producer hesitated to present a
show in 1927 that dealt with racism, lyricist Oscar Hammerstein came up with
this song.It has remained a centerpiece
of American music ever since.Showboat itself inaugurated Broadway’s
role as the heartbeat of American culture, a position it held into the 1960s.
The song humanized African-Americans at a time of extreme racism.

12.
White Christmas.Still the best selling record of all time,
the song was written by Irving Berlin in 1940.He supposedly told his secretary: "Grab your pen and take down this
song. I just wrote the best song I've ever written — heck, I just wrote
the best song that anybody's ever written!"

Porter

13.
Summertime.This Gershwin classic first appeared in in
the 1935 musical Porgy and Bess.It remains one of the most covered songs in
American music.An estimated 33,000
versions exist.

14.
Night and Day.Written by Cole Porter for his 1932 Broadway
show The Gay Divorcee, it has become
the signature song of such performers as Fred Astaire and Frank Sinatra, and
the consummate love song in American music.

15.
This Land is Your Land.Woody Guthrie wrote this in 1940 to counter
Irving Berlin’s saccharine “God Bless America.”The words usually not sung are bitter and rebellious, reflecting the Guthrie
disgust with the split between haves and have-nots in this land of plenty.

16.
Over the Rainbow.Written by Harold Arlen and E.Y. Harburg for
the 1939 movie The Wizard of Oz, the
song has remained an American standard, evoking a place of peace and harmony.

17.
Blowin’ in the Wind.Written in 1962, this Bob Dylan ambiguous classic
galvanized an entire generation and remains as fresh today as then.

19. Yesterday.Written in 1965 by Paul McCartney, it
was voted the top song of the 20th century in both England and the
United States.By one measurement, it
was played 7 million times in its first 35 years of existence.

20.
Imagine.John Lennon essentially wrote this in one
sitting.Even though it speaks against
religion and capitalism, it has captured the hearts of successive generations
who sing the words and ignore the meaning.

Maybe
you could think of a few more.

Long-time
religious historian Bill Lazarus regularly writes about religion and religious
history along with excursions into American culture.He holds an ABD in American Studies from Case
Western Reserve University. He also speaks at various religious organizations
throughout Florida.You can reach him at
www.williamplazarus.net.He is the author of the famed Unauthorized
Biography of Nostradamus; The Last Testament of Simon Peter; The Gospel Truth: Where Did the Gospel
Writers Get Their Information; Noel:
The Lore and Tradition of Christmas Carols;and Dummies Guide to Comparative
Religion.His most recent book is Passover in Prison, which
details abuse of Jewish inmates in American prisons.His books are available on Amazon.com,
Kindle, bookstores and via various publishers.He can also be followed on Twitter.

You
can enroll in his on-line class, Comparative Religion for Dummies, at
http://www.udemy.com/comparative-religion-for-dummies/?promote=1

About Me

During his career, Bill has been a newspaper reporter, magazine writer/editor, advertising copywriter and writer/editor of NASCAR programs, among other jobs. He has won three international awards for stories and programs while working for International Speedway Corp. and was named 2000 Florida Feature Writer of the Year.
He has published four books to date and his writing has appeared in hundreds of local, regional, state and national publications.